latest news and week's top stories from r.t. barack obama's tough foreign policy action kicks in quick after soft talks accuse control the white house for another four years. by western powers to step down and facing death threats from the rebels the syrian president exclusively tells us that he'll stay until he's a vote today. also live event like pictures here from the center of athens outside the parliament after some of the most intense a stereotype clashes in months greek faces more protests tonight as it decides the draconian twenty thirteen budget we hope to speak to someone who's amidst those people outside parliament. israel takes a its neighbors firing its first rounds in syria since the start of the conflict

first off the killing six palestinians in retaliation for attacks from gaza got the latest to. allay watching the weekly roundup of the top stories of the last seven days with me kevin now and tonight and first republicans in the u.s. a licking their wounds after voters put democrat barack obama back in the nation's top job it was a close race that ultimately ended in a clear win over hard line a mitt romney but obama's soft campaign talk on foreign policy said transformed into tough shit even before all the ballots have been counted he's got a teacher can explain. in the wake of president obama's reelection there was no sense of euphoria as in two thousand and eight but his victory did come as a relief to most americans his challenger mitt romney was widely. seen as more

aggressive especially in his foreign policy rhetoric also is seemingly out of touch with middle class america we are on american family and we rise or fall together as one. leading for him right after reelection is the so-called fiscal cliff a combination of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts all we need is action from the house. and i got the pen right to sign the bill right away. but averting the fiscal cliff was probably not the first issue addressed by the president he also rise the drone strike targeting a group of al qaeda militants in yemen on wednesday the u.n. has raised concerns about the legality of such strikes you tube reported heavy civilian casualties on lack of transparency on the u.s. part we're in uncharted waters when it comes to policy american policy related to drones this week the administration imposed financial sanctions against iranian officials with the u.s. planes but jamming satellite broadcasts and blocking internet access anywhere and

that comes on top of a whole lot of other sanctions that have been put in place by the u.s. which proved to be crippling for the iranian economy the goal is not to change the iranian government's decision making it's actually leverage ordinary civilians against the iranian government and threaten to topple the government by inciting you know food riots or you know people who are unhappy because they can't you know their grandparents are dying and can't get medicine and on friday despite president obama's claims the u.s. should move away from the cold war thinking in relations with russia the white house launched its first permanent military presence on polish soil the issue has been a constant sword in the side of relations between moscow and washington as the u.s. also plans to install missile interceptors in poland but the president every other democrat that i'm aware of is also made it clear that if we leave russia is still opposed to it still sees it as a we're. just going to go ahead with any of the president's actions so far have

shown while he may be talking soft he's acting tough looking at some of president obama's first moves after reelection one could say he puts the idea of america being the wall police very seriously but the question is who can hold that wall police itself accountable in washington and that is check on. a former cia officer told us that bubba needs to break free of the strings being pulled from the right what i would suggest is that he call a press conference what he would say is you know the campaign is over and i found out that i've been grievously misled they told me to say that iran had threatened to wipe israel off the map and i found out that they never said that it's a matter of fact the israeli deputy prime minister sort of said ok ok he never said that and so my speechwriters are being canned and i'm going to get some new speechwriters the intelligence community keeps telling me that he run has not yet

decided to build a nuclear weapon and so i'm going to get rid of all those folks from brookings other places who are the soft on which the speech saying well you know you still have to worry about this instead of negotiations once these troublesome people have their own agenda are dismissed then he has a square chance of saying look we're going to do a deal with the run just as i said five years ago we're going to talk directly to them and we're not going to let that be sabotaged by either israeli intelligence or is really for sure not ose within the neo conservative camp in washington. syria's president has rebuffed western calls to step down and would foreign intervention will spark a global disaster and an exclusive interview gave to us this last week the interviews about c dot com and it's come up again in full later tonight. this thing that really marked me the most is how really how much more complicated situation

inside series that from what we see in the media because i talk to people yes the country is divided and even the people who didn't like us before this conflict started are now so scared that fundamentalists will come to power fundamentalists who are fighting on the side of the free syrian army and syrian people are not about that i mean this is like the only secular that had a lot of different religious groups always living in peace with each other whether it's sunni or shia or always or christians so they're really scared that if the army will fall apart and then you know you have this extremist muslims coming to them and asking them to basically be just like them so it's not just about assad i think people feel like whether he goes or stays. it's only can get worse if it goes because it will get i mean the terror attacks will continue and the fundamentalists will come to power so they're very scared of that. that he is not a western puppet he also denies defect that civil war is taking place in this

country he's saying that it's not civil war it's a conflict where he has to fight different fractions of terrorism. as on the fact that the financing of this terrorist fractions was unprecedented and it was coming from abroad he also said that if the west were to intervene militarily it would have to do from atlantic to pacific vision if it's going. to be more the whole world came before because if you have a problem if you drop the last. ability in the region and coexistence. between have the domain or. the pacific. you know because you know. it's going. to go but. nobody came. mixed basho are our side didn't r.t. exclusive friday through sunday on r.t. and r.t.

dot com well president assad says that only elections can determine his future but it seems that not everyone agrees the free syrian army is media chief spoke to us and says they want the president's head on a plate. in his statement to your channel he said he would not leave syria we know this very well because he will not be able to leave syria he and his people not managed to leave the country for free syrian army will not let him do this he will not get out of syria lying you'll be lucky if he meets the same fate as market duffy. the leaders of the syrian opposition say they've side now an initial agreement to form a new umbrella coalition during a conference this weekend in cata but the bodies lost support in syria itself after key activists disavowed the exiled officials meantime the u.k.'s top general now saying the country may launch a limited military intervention in syria that is this winter it is therefore the most serious british threat to damascus yet let's get some reaction about that from

the political analyst dr franklin lamb is on the line from beirut dr good evening thank you for being with us this morning is despite the syrian president saying on this very channel that intervention will spark a global conflict is britain the paired try and topple assad at any cost. no i don't think so and i think there may be another problem on the horizon and that is the nature and quality of this so-called agreement that was patched together five very disparate factions was different it is a ologies economy ethnic background and so i think that unless there's a real agreement that holds and this is very problematical this one. this new one so far then i don't think i don't see britain doing more than talking you know it comes out cameron every couple weeks or so with another announcement but no i think i think the question is going to be what comes out of

today's so-called agreement will in the last will it endure i think that's. the stage that the path for the future i want to get back to britain i mean ok while we're at it let's talk about the s.n.c. and where they are said to see the syrian national council is at the moment it says as i mentioned that it's united the opposition now into a broader coalition crucially that will be able to win back the support of activists they appear to have lost inside syria. well that's the big polite behavior but in the first instance i think the only reason we have that almost tissue quality agreement was the threats and they could jolie and the and the political pressure that was put on them they had to do something this weekend do you think the west is going to show up in qatar and arrange a show and no result no how long it will last we don't know and it's been twenty one months in the libya you recall and there are factions still aren't glued together and they had the benefit of the one thousand bombing runs by nato so i i

think that the other problem is not the groups themselves which are very disparate but the lack of support. they've got now among the syrian people and what they have lost in terms of respect with through a lot of crimes they've committed a lot of assassinations and massacres and destruction of cultural. sites so i think that this is a last ditch effort in a sense to try to put together viable opposition and only time will tell if it's going to stick together if there was an outside intervention would syria be able to repel of military intervention by conventional means old crucially would damascus be forced to use those chemical weapons it has threatened to use against invade is a previously. well i fear it might be time to too but i trust the russians on this they've made it very clear that they know what they're doing

apparently there's rain inside others guarding those sites and i don't see that getting call for ground frankly but absent a nato type no fly zone massive massive air strikes no i don't think. the regime can be defeated because their air force is being supplied it still has a lot of reserves and i don't i don't see it you know unless you've got nato or a ground invasion i think what we've seen so far this opposition which is actually splendor again some ways they've got a very steep slope to climb. and i would think if your thoughts live from beirut political analyst to dr franklin lamb my pleasure my pleasure now israel's got itself militarily entangled on two fronts he is all in one day firing his first weapons into syria sunday just hours before hitting back at militants in gaza killing several civilians we got details about that just ahead.

usually the police and occupy protesters are like oil and water but it led to they've come together to save the house of a former detective jacqueline barber unfortunately ms barbara lost a lot of money battling cancer and was facing eviction what she turned to occupy homes for help so far she's managed to stay in her home despite it being sold out from under her feet but the main thing is that her fight to stay in her home has become like a bridge between two groups who are usually at each other's throats the police and occupiers the thing is that cruel economic practices can. does saul even retired police like ms barber i know there are some irresponsible people who buy things they can't pay for and here the police have to do something about them but they

shouldn't throw you out of your home that you've paid for for years just for getting cancer no one should have to live with the constant fear that their home will be taken away after years and years of payment just because they got sick and america i thought we believed in private property not eternally rented from big banks but that's just my opinion. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world from the street and canada. showing corporations rule today.

excuse me can i speak we'll see you let me play by sort of a run of three you agree with. mason isn't isn't it mary and i don't know would it be our greatest crime to reduce their. share of the country. to country during. the moon or. to help you. find in so many olson's war. download the official r.t. application to choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorites such t.v. is not required to watch our t.v. all you need is your mobile device to watch r.t.

any time any. other developing news stories and i gritted teeth in greece people are gathering in central athens as a speaker as parliament is preparing to vote tonight on the early hours for next year's budget does make comfortable reading for hard pressed citizens of course but it does need approval for greece to secure that fresh international loan it needs an added condition was further wage cuts and tax hikes which narrowly screens through parliament first day but public patients were at largo five years now into this crippling slump more than

a quarter of the country is out of work. violence broke out as lawmakers bowled the latest cuts while police were pelted with molotov cocktails and furious crowds while they were trying to secure a building where over one hundred arrests let's go live into the heart of athens with the good stuff is there from the confederation of greek civil servants' trade unions thank you very much for being with us it's appreciated thursday we saw those cuts of thirty going to have believed pushed through tonight knowing point three billion euro cuts may be i mean what are you expecting out of this budget. of course we expect nothing because of this budget is a catastrophe for this country all the measurements say it will lead does look at past of the end we know it because after two years of memorandum and all for the same or measures and the same politics of the i.m.f. and the e.u. don't get. me out of the crisis we are getting more in the crisis and of course in two people that's. absolutely so what will protest occur. yes of course

i on wednesday as a person for we have some brokers of the public servants because we are. on our way out of the services first of all and second the four oh no wednesday the fourteenth of november we have made. in greece but not only in greece also immediately in portugal and everywhere in europe even in the england they will all people will you join their voices against this policy that will cause it's not only in greece it's all over europe the same. austerity policies that are we being imposed by the parliament but despite all of those protests you're talking about despite all that we've already seen despite what you say is going to the question is are they having any impact because the cuts keep coming to. get coming but you know that we've changed the third government really tames in name two years i think

that all these are the most they hold him. even if. it's not even adding to the mess. and no they don't argue then maybe even if we didn't protest now we will do we want even to have any jobs any homes without any schools whatever we keep right now as we are keeping it's a i'm still a our government all the girls family unions governments change their policy and understands of this this leads to catastrophe or until with chains our government whatever we keep is good for the public so greece is full source thirty package in a row is it enough to turn the corner that is the golden question i'm sure you've got some thoughts on it though. first of all i think you should ask our government the how how they look at all these things but i strongly believe that it's not just a greek problem and everybody knows that now. and i strongly strongly believe that

peoples of europe are rising up and understand now that it's not good lousy greeks and. these boys who can go everywhere and that the people of europe do not have to pay for their not kept the way for them that they didn't. interfere into they don't have to pay for bankers all the time so we need our pensions we need our incomes we need we need to live in this kind of not just to survive but clearly and i think that our our child is this out of all people of europe to spain or no you got a lot on tonight we do appreciate you taking the time to speak to us to speak in a could somebody from the confederation of greek civil servants trade unions thank you. thank you. israel's military is engaged on both its northern and southern from tears right now the country's fired today into syria in response to a mortar attack on the golan heights and televisa also warning of tougher action against militants in gaza after

a surgeon solvers two from the palestinian territory fall asleep erodes it up. early on sunday afternoon israel fired into syrian territory for the first time since the nine hundred seventy three war i spoke earlier with the israeli defense forces spokesperson unit who did confirm that these warning shots took place he said that they were in response to a mortar shell falling near and the israeli military post in the golan heights now these ladies do not believe that they were the target they do believe that the shell was part of the byproduct of the internal fighting taking place in syria between forces loyal to assad and rebel fighters but the army is saying that it won't tolerate more checks from syria that violates the disengagement agreement between israel and syria now there have been several such incidents over the past two weeks just last week three syrian tanks crossed over the demilitarized zone between the two countries alarming israelis and also causing them to ways they lived in the area the idea of has filed

a complaint with the united nations saying that any kind of fire imitating from syria into israel will be responded to also on the southern israeli border we have seen a flare up of violence between the israelis and palestinian militants the latest we heard from the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is that his country is ready to strike hard to against the gaza strip if it does not stop attacking israel he made these remarks today sunday at the weekly cabinet meeting in which he said and i'm quoting that the world must understand that israel cannot sit idly by while attempts are made to attack it the hostilities along the israel gaza border have is going to choppy particularly this past weekend that follows israeli airstrikes that killed six palestinians four of whom were teenagers and two of whom belonged to the militant group islamic jihad according to the gaza health ministry spokesperson there are any number of people who were injured the biggest stands at around thirty including children the problem though is that often in these israeli airstrikes

it's all ends up killing civilians and not militants as its intention. it is a mass has taken responsibility for this attack they were four israeli soldiers that were wounded in it and response from the palestinian side was dozens of rockets that were fired into southern israel early on sunday morning the whole sort of israel is in a state of high alert and this comes of palestinian militants about to take revenge for these deaths now flare ups along the israeli gaza border are quite common and we had seen already two flare ups this month this though is one of the highest casualty counts in gaza in a single incident in recent months. paula slater watching that story closely with the help of course we bring you the stories a lot of charles won't touch soon we'll look at those signing up to serve on call sam and whether prejudice plays a part in who is sent to the worst front lines is our next program tonight on r.t. from moscow.

it's perched atop a giant and the view from the kremlin stretches as far as the eye can see up for a city to all of siberia for centuries. it lost its economic importance even before it was bypassed by the chance i bear in railway but the poles cremains a spiritual center. things like these are a yearly occurrence thousands of orthodox worshippers themselves implicity water to commemorate the baptismal jesus. is. there when you will

a bug or the model of it doesn't matter if it's minus thirty it's a siberian tradition i do it myself every year for everyone to overcome their worst fears it is desirable to take a plunge. but that's picture postcard churches hide the story of a city built by opportunist explorers political exiles and crafty fur traders. in the fifteen eighties the russians had only just conquered siberia taking it from the muslim. surrounded by enemies to balls to be their stronghold constructed on top of the city but soon enough it became an economic hub site. oil of its time bringing in a third of all russia's state revenues but the ball scrimmage location head of the says for the russians. to moscow's one of the most popular places to send political dissent is not any people were exiled that once a giant bell that was used to incite riots was supposed to set

a three hundred ten. the russian heiress across who led a revolt against the eighteen twenty five known as the decemberists will stand here in droves there they created a replica high society adopting the latest fashions as soon as they came out or at least once they made it from paris to siberia. but the city also served up some bitter irony for the russian royal family after the bolshevik revolution. this is the office was nicholas the second spend most of the last year of his life his whole family had been exiled here they were at a fairly comfortable existence this was a big house but they weren't allowed to see visitors or go outside themselves whilst leaving this ordinary normal countryside lifestyle they even had thoughts of escape but within the year bizarre and his family would be dead.

never again its political significance but the streets will always echo with a glorious past that will likely provide the livelihood for some habitants in the future. you know make everybody.

we're going up to san francisco we'll walk about fifteen miles a day for sixteen days from here to san francisco that's right will arrive on march to. seventh is the third anniversary of cases this death of.

things. just.